Cobalt is a mined mineral needed for all rechargeable batteries including phones, pads, laptops and Electric Vehicles (EV’s). According to Siddharth Kara, an author and expert on modern-day slavery, human trafficking and child labor, approximately 72% of all the cobalt mined globally comes from the Congo.
Within his new book “Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives,” Kara outlines how slave labor and child labor work these cobalt mines. Kara appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast {Direct Rumble Link to segment} to discuss his research and findings after visiting these Congolese mines. Contrasting the “Green Movement” claims that their efforts are to “save the planet” by switching everyone to EV’s, the issues Kara outlines are remarkable. WATCH:
“Out of sight, out of mind”.
NIMBY – Not In My Back Yard
.
Except, when these lands are all raped of any desirability for humans to reside there, all these ‘poor people’ will be imported here (in all of our back yards) thus, the demand for EV’s increase such that a ‘new’ place to ravage is discovered, and the circle of destruction continues . . .
The only way to save the planet is ironically just below our feet.
The fission nuclear energy of ordinary rock is 30x that of oil of the same volume.
God has provided.
And yet once again mankind is challenged to choose life or death.
In short the rock under our feet can produce unlimited energy for life or death from nuclear weapons.
I know a lot about fission but I don’t understand your comment. When you say “rock” are you talking about uranium and plutonium?
He has no idea what he’s talking about!
Oh!
Uranium is present naturally in virtually all soil, rock and water. Rocks break down to form soil. Soil can be moved by water and blown by wind, which moves uranium into streams, lakes and surface water. More than 99 percent of the uranium found in the environment is in the form of U-238. Uranium-234 is less than one percent of all forms of natural uranium, but is much more radioactive. It gives off almost half of the radioactivity from all forms of uranium found in the environment.
https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclide-basics-uranium#:~:text=234%3A%20244%2C000%20years-,Uranium%20in%20the%20Environment,the%20form%20of%20U%2D238.
I don’t believe anything the EPA says.
So U235 is the very rare isotope used in most nuclear fission power currently.
Longer term we need to move towards U238 to Pu cycle and Th to U cycles.
“BOOM”!
Yes I do. So you are a nuclear scientist?
Actually I’m also a rocket scientist as well.
Look up Molten Salt Fast Reactors.
Nickel and palladium can be used for cold fission.
The average cubic meter of rock has 1/2 cm of U and 2 cm of Th.
When used in a fast spectrum reactor you can produce the energy of 30 cubic meters of oil.
Look at a mountain and think 30x that volume of oil.
We are currently drilling through rock that has orders of magnitude more energy than the fossil energy we are trying to tap.
Davos doesn’t want most of mankind to know this basic fact.
Mixed volume and linear units, literally making the first line nonsensical. Doesn’t give much confidence in statements based on using those numbers in calculations.
So, are you arguing for strip mining the surface of the entire planet?
Since you are comparing portable fuel to fuel used in massive reactors, are you saying we should buy into all the EV garbage? (And the ugly mining needed to make that happen?)
Just an observation. Once the people haters gain an inch against progress, they never give it back. They won their victory against nuclear power long ago. In the same time frame they won their victory against hydroelectric power. They are conflating the latter into ‘renewables’ so that they can deceive to convince us to give them victory over coal, oil and natural gas. But they have no intention of letting us build more dams.
You will never get back any power generation method that you cede to these people haters. Arguments against any viable method of generating power just play into these haters’ plans to take all power generation from us. Solar and wind are not viable and never will be. They know that. Same with battery storage.
They are literally forcing us into misery as they stop expanding viable and reliable energy generation and waste resources on unviable and irregular energy. This gross incompetence is by design. It is no longer just California dreading rolling blackouts.
And there is no hypocrisy that they will not brazenly flaunt as they impose their will upon us. The character Ebeneezer Scrooge may have been miserly, but for all his dreadful pronunciations about how people should be treated, he never acted on them. These people haters do act on their hatred of people. But they claim they are the moral people.
They never pull back on their drive to their utopia even when it is known that they can only get there via horrible child slave labor. They don’t care about ruining the environment in the rest of the world, so that they can ‘save’ the planet from the rest of us.
Most would have understood it was cm2 since I was clearly talking volume and wasn’t trying to write a scientific paper on my smartphone.
Concerning ‘strip mining’ you clearly don’t understand the volume of rock on the Earth. I could calculate just how many orders of magnitude you are off vs real strip mining used for say coal or copper etc, but don’t have the time. Ironically the ‘waste’ rock from actual copper strip mining alone could power the world. Even coal ash has more nuclear energy in it than the original coal.
I’m also not against fossil fuels, it liberates the CO2, the molecule of life, and is greening the planet. In addition, the greenhouse effect of CO2 is non-linear with the rate of increase dropping off significantly after about 1 molecule per 10,000. Plants die below 1.5, at the end of the last ice age we were at only 2, before the fossil fuel age we are in 3, and now oh the horror we are 4 and could go as high as 5 before we run out.
So in short modern human civilization ‘saved’ all life on the planet, now modern human civilization needs to save itself.
Running out of inexpensive fossil energy ‘before’ we have a viable replacement is what faces modern civilization. The iron law of power densities makes ‘renewables’ a dead end. Plus while the energy is renewable the devices used to collect it are not. Plus we are likely to run out of some forms of ‘inexpensive’ fossil energy first, say oil vs NG vs coal. So we will need the ability to turn coal into oil and NG using nuclear-produced hydrogen for example. Thus setting up an energy transition period. Suddenly USA has more oil than the ME. What form the fossil energy is in is just as important because we have infrastructure built over generations that use that particular form. Long term we can use water and CO2 to make any type of fossil fuel synthetically with nuclear power. Oil-based transportation fuels are still the king of chemical energy density, fossil or synthetic, by orders of magnitude vs the best batteries.
Plug-in hybrids likely offer the best overall resource use efficiency. You can make 10 of these cars getting upwards of 80 mpg for the battery pack needed for one all-electric car. Plus no brake jobs for the life of the vehicle on average.
But you are correct the neo-Malthusian cult are bent on mass murder by whatever means and a world awash in cheap energy and prosperous happy lives runs directly against their cult beliefs.
Having owned and operated a 2005 Prius hybrid for 13 years along with knowing several other Prius owners, I can speak to the “life” of the vehicle’s brakes. Unless one operates the vehicle on nearly level terrain in a sparsely populated remote areas, the brakes last maybe 25% to 35% longer than those on most equivalently-sized vehicles but don’t last “for the life” of the vehicle.
My former Prius is still running as the primary vehicle for the man who bought mine 4 years ago with 154,000 miles on it. He has put over 60,000 additional miles on it and says it does not yet need brake pads/shoes replaced, but he thinks it’s getting close.
My front disc pads needed replacing after about 80,000 mi.; the rear (drum) shoes needed replacing at abut 110,000 mi. My Toyota dealer’s service manager and a local independent senior mechanic both said that was longer than average. My 1994 Nissan Sentra got roughly the same mileage from the factory brakes. My boss at the time had a 1993 Sentra that got more brake mileage but he commuted 75 miles per day on a highway with few traffic delays.
Our operating area is from the east coast (near sea level) into the Appalachians in Maryland. Dynamic braking works to extend the life of the brakes but there are too many traffic conditions that don’t allow enough stopping distance to rely mostly on the dynamic braking feature.
I’m sure it has a lot to do with the driving conditions, but I would say getting a car to over 150K with no brake job is a good improvement. Though I don’t think the Plug-in Hybrid Prius was around in 2005. Perhaps that is why, but I can’t think of how. Maybe they improved the recharge rate to allow harder breaking.
Plus our Plug-in hybrid would go over 25K miles before oil changes due to how little the gas engine was used. Given the reduction in ICE engine running hours per vehicle mile, the ICE engine should also last a lot longer, perhaps over 300K. Just the construction of any car represents a lot of fossil energy.
The typical Plug-in Hybrids only have a 25-mile all-electric range but I think people would be amazed at how many trips you do in a typical year that only require that. Overall I think Plug-in Hybrid makes a great city or suburb car. My commute to work started downhill so I could typically get about 40 miles of 50-mile round trip in all-electric mode.
Not only driving conditions but also driving style. Lead foot jackrabbit drivers tend to burn up brakes far more frequently than gentle drivers.
You are correct; the Plug-in version of the Prius was not offered until late 2011 (2012 model).
I’ll take a 30% population reduction for $100 Alex.
Let’s maximize efficiency of use as well.
“Saving Our Planet” is like “Our Democracy”. What they mean is “Their Democracy” and “Their Planet”.
The wouldn’t do the things they do if this was not true.
Their Democracy is Demorazy.
DemoCrazy
It’s not about saving anything: it’s about producing wealth.
And destroying normal, everyday, God-fearing goodness of the people.
And their power!
Yep, cold fission is the way to go. If the greens were serious about a cleaner environment there would push to develop this technology.
A “moonshot” approach to this type of tech would be a better way to go than solar and wind. The corporatists and governments do not like this tech because it would decentralize energy and take their power away from them. It would put many dictators like Bidenstein out of business. There. would be no need to have energy wars if everyone had their own mini power plants.
what-is-cold-fusion
Sounds a bit like con-fusion…….
Maybe, but the point is we will find a better form of energy sometime in the future but before we run out of fossil fuel.
Government money would be better spent helping to implement cold fusion if it is feasible as it seems to this laymen to be.
I have read that this process has been know to tptb, but the M.I. C. decided to go with the fission process we have in our nuclear power industry today.
They do not want a decentralized energy system, that they cannot control. Way to much liberty going on there.
Why would they be unable to control it? They have managed to control everything else.
So what have described above has already been demonstrated in a reator for four years, in the early 1960s at ORNL.
The biggest problem is it runs on nuclear waste and doesn’t produce nuclear weapons.
@spaul
I’d like to thank you for offering REAL alternatives to “Go Green” chlid slavery in the Congo rather than just “stick it to the libs.”
The reason they use child slavery is that they don’t have plentiful energy.
In fact, it was the discovery of coal that was pivotal in enabling a path toward ending slavery globally.
I’m sure all the lefties will be interested (NOT) to hear that SLAVERY is a major factor in creating their green vehicles. Hypocrites!
They were afterall the party of the slave owners
That is the future they see for all of us.
Same with diamonds but 50% of Americans have a diamond ring.
And most of us have laptops, cell phones, re-chargeable lithium batteries in our power tools. It’s not just ev batteries.
@Evertrumper
Truth.
So, what do conservatives do about that atrocious status quo? Calling out the Left for the Go Green hypocrisy doesn’t matter if we offer no alternatives to kids in the Congo being used as slaves.
Treeper spaul offers America using our own resources to invest in fusion reactors as a better option.
Fission, specifically fast spectrum reactors which make their own fuel and thus are able to use ‘all’ the energy in the nuclear material vs just 3% now in thermal spectrum reactors running on the very raw isotope of Uranium, U235. Fusion seems to always be 20 years in the future. And yet fusion is actually very common in the universe, but they are in the shape of massive spheres and not a small torus.
Cobalt mining only requires ‘slaves’ when you don’t have fossil energy and capital equipment.
The Prime minister of Italy called out the Greens on this very issue. Namely by suppressing a fossil fuels in Africa they basically are causing this.
The iron law of power density makes renewables a bad deal unless that is all you have. While the energy is renewable the devices used to collect it are not, and require a lot of fossil energy to build. So much that it often takes over ten years or more before they even produce the energy used to make them.
Hmmm…This should be more publicized…but I suppose there is no profit in that.
Unless diamonds are in a cutting wheel, I have no use for them. What a silly waste of money.
Save the earth…it’s for the children.
“…Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Amen! Betsy.
The enslavement of children in Congo has been going on for decades now, they have been forced to mine Coltan a mineral used in laptops and Cell phones.
Look at who the bed fellows are, Bushes and the Bin Laden family.
“The UN list includes household names such as Compaq, Dell, IBM, Nokia and Siemens.
The US-based Carlisle Group, a global private equity investment firm fronted by George Bush Sr, made a fortune from coltan.
Their board of directors includes ex-US Secretary of State James Baker, ex-US Defence Secretary Frank C. Carlucci, former UK Prime Minister John Major and until October 2001 was the home to a £1million investment from the bin Laden family.”
https://laborrights.org/in-the-news/plight-african-child-slaves-forced-mines-our-mobile-phones
The wicked who know this goes on and profit from it better be careful.
Gates from Hell has just given $70,000,000,000 to various entities in Africa for “healthcare”. He’ll be ” reducing the surplus population” to such an extent, there will be no “workers” for their precious metals.
The knowledge that this evil goes on is overpowering. Bless-ed little children….
There is a special chamber in hell awaiting Bill Gates. He is a monster.
He’s Mengeleian, Lorrie. On a scale exponentially higher than the psychopath Mengele ever was.
I wish his wife would spill the beans about him.
NO money in that either.
I think we are all complicet now that we know about this, if we don’t give up our lithium batteries.
He had me until he said going EV was better than fossil fuel, so which is it Greene child slavery or your EV.
And the damage done to the planet from all of the mining of the materials required to produce batteries.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/14/electric-cost-lithium-mining-decarbonasation-salt-flats-chile
Not to mention the damage done to the planet from disposing the old batteries, windmills…etc..etc..
It’s not about saving anything.
It’s all about the $$$’s…..Trillions…..
The loss of of forest and farmlands to solar panels and windmills is never mentioned.
I agree and to be honest with you, I’m believing now that there are millions of people who have NOT suffered enough so they desire to learn the truth and can understand how things really work in life.
I’m getting tired of living in the “World of Pretend”.
Your last sentence is the best… I told my wife, I don’t do pretend, anymore.
was just going to comment on that too – wait until people find out about the destruction of the water table due to the need to use the underground water to make lithium brine pits for those fancy electric vehicle batteries, not just Chile but in Nevada and other lithium mining areas in the US while Maine has a humongous deposit of lithium that does not require any brine pits to extract but has voted to ban any lithium mining because it’s 10 miles from a ski resort.
So far all this save the planet religion is turning children into slave laborers, killing the birds with windmills, burning the wildlife in the desert from the solar panels and using up the water in the fragile desert environment, but heck, electric cars!
I did not hear that.
Listen again…
Dan, broaden your emotions to consider…if he comes across as a green hater, he loses credibility. He is smart to come down on the side of “green technology” while questioning its methods. Try to stay focused. You persuade down the middle, not on any far side of an argument. Sad for us, we are farsides, MAGA, but those that will lead us need to swipe middle dwellers, much to our frustration…
He just shot himself in the foot with his statement about switching from internal combustion engines to EV’s being a net good!!
That’s exactly what he said about Electric vehicles being a net good when switching from internal combustion engines!! ARGH!
Funny how pod cast are knocking it out of the park while the main stream is hitting fall balls.
Really hate the main steam media very much and pod cast very much.
Go Joe
One mutates until it thrives. The other is engineered according to what the owner desires.
Worked in the Congo.
Life has no value there.
Life has no value here in many places. It is soulless and lawless.
I remember seeing old black & white films of diamond mines in South Africa. Very similar sight.
Crimes against humanity have been ongoing in Congo at least since reign of terror of Leopold: read King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild.
Sad
My children, during public school grade school in suburbs of Chicago, were forced to read accounts of genocide in the Congo officially sanctioned by King Leopold of Belgium. The total # of deaths in Congo far exceeded the Jewish deaths in the Holocaust in WW2 according to the “reputable” claims. One problem with the instruction: the story was first introduced by Mother Jones magazine in the 1960s. As always, my admonition to my children: Don’t believe everything you read kids.
Especially Mother Jones from the 1960’s….
Not sure how I feel about to linking Wikipedia, though it helped me recall a book that I read two decades ago. It seems the scholarship of Hochschild is better than Mother Jones and certainly much more up to date :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Leopold's_Ghost
I would completely discount anything Mr Hothschild wrote as he was completely compromised as a professor at UC Berkeley. Hothschild also compared the “atrocities” in the Congo to “atrocities” committed by US Soldiers 75 years+ later in Vietnam. Again, don’t believe everything you read.
Mr. Oddpicker, if you have information worth sharing, please do so here. Thank you.
The King Leopold Congo genocide is another myth blaming Western civilization for any and all problems in Africa and everywhere. The Congo is worse off today than 1890s/King Leopold’s time. Is King Leopold II responsible for the sad state of affairs in the Congo today?
Well, we did atrocities there and in WW2. And we killed 1M civilians in the middle east from 1990-2020.
Outstanding book.
and… when the Belgians were expelled from the Congo, the Africans rose up, developed a workable system of government that was not exploitative. Not.
the railways grew up with grass, the economy deteriorated, constant armed conflict and poverty, and now… they live like this. What to do? If you can believe anything the CIA says see the link below –this assessment does not differ really from the Rogan interview.
Congo, Democratic Republic of the – The World Factbook (cia.gov)
“Trafficking in personscurrent situation: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Democratic Republic of the Congo and Congolese abroad; most trafficking is internal and involves the forced labor of men, women, and children in artisanal mining, agriculture, domestic servitude, sex trafficking, or child recruitment by armed groups; some traffickers are family members or others who promise victims or victims’ families educational or job opportunities and instead force victims to work as domestic servants, street vendors, gang members, or in commercial sex; some Congolese women and girls who migrate to other countries in Africa or the Middle East are exploited in sex trafficking or forced labor in agriculture, diamond mines, or domestic service; they may be fraudulently recruited by traffickers with false promises of jobs or education”
The latest greenie thing now is reparations. We owe people in third world countries reparations for the damage caused by global warming.
So how in h is the “green” solution which requires mining materials and using child labor in these very same third world countries making things better for them???
Reparations for historic wrongs are just another corruptocrat money laundering scheme — like do-gooder NGOs, proxy wars and “climate change.”
About 5 years ago I was at a friend’s party, where a woman enticed us to play a card game of hard questions. I drew the very wrinkled card asking, If you could go back and time and end any travesty, which one would it be? I answered: “Slavery.” The woman was pleased. I went on to explain that I was from the South and believed in generational curses. Then she smiled broadly. Then I added, “Sadly, slavery is still in the world today.” And I ticked off several examples, including children working in mines abroad. She frowned – she had zero interest in discussing modern-day slavery.
Outta site—
Outta “mines.”
Sounds like a real fun party.
🙂
That’s what the disinformation thought police are all about. Trash the USA, trash the Southern States but you touch any other nation or state, except maybe Great Britain. It’s an evil censorship that anyone who tries to speak truth to power will run into every time.
Green is b.s.
Can it be run on B-S? Or only sold through B-S?
The Dems pat themselves on the back for producing less pollution in the US, completely ignoring the pollution, destruction of land, and slavery the “green” scheme causes in the poor countries.
I’ll bet the vast majority of “green” supporters have no idea what’s going on.
And totally fabricated.
It’s all a fantasy..a lie…BS!
.
B.S. is green!
China owns 80% of the Congolese cobalt mines. And if they weren’t working in the mines for $1 a day, they would be doing what, exactly, for their sustenance? If this weren’t better than the alternatives, those thousands of people would be doing something else. And that says volumes about what life is like in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Make good money, five dollars a day
If I made any more I might move away”
Cumberland Mine, Grateful Dead
Yes. Volumes and volumes.
Good question Trapper- ” And if they weren’t working in the mines for $1 a day, they would be doing what, exactly, for their sustenance?
Another question for those whom are smarter than I;
How would the commodity cost of cobalt be affected if the artisan labor were to be replaced with the efficiencies of modern mining practices?
1. They would grow local crops, fish, hunt and raise animals.
2. I dont care about the commodity costs for 2 reasons,
A. Neither of us are going to benefit from it anyway.
B. If it results in slavery, forced, coerced labor, then it’s not a necessity.
The world systems are satanic and leading to the antichrist.
Simple living appeals to me.
“1. They would grow local crops, fish, hunt and raise animals.” That is really over-simplifying. the problem is complex, the culture in Africa as a whole is tribal and corrupt. Is there private ownership of land?
I continually wonder, what will the NWO people do for food and goods and services when they have destroyed our (somewhat fake) private enterprise system? Slavery. They will put a gun to OUR HEADS to produce what they need.
Nope, they have robots ready for that. We just have to be ready for depopulation
Holy cats. Makes me want to go back to the rotary dial phone
I thought I was hot stuff when I got a princess phone.
If we live long enough, by the time they tear down this planet and take it back to pre-industrial revolution day…you may actually relive that rotary phone moment!!!
What’s the matter with the hand crank phone?
And the party line where the only one listening in was a nosy neighbor.
Kind of odd to think Ted Kaczinski was right.
Green energy is a marketing plot for what it is, dirty green energy.
Gleefully brought to you with heavy government funding by every congress and administration for the last 20 years!
Come on. This is first world b*******. Stolen childhood my ass. So what are we going to do? Social promote them through college like we do here and then give them all pretend jobs in government financed by counterfeiting money so they can go out and be good little consumers? How’s it working out for us so far? And if we do that, who’s going to do the work? Sound like a familiar set of problems?
Most African students I have met who got to this once great Nation would work their asses off in school and employment. They would run circles around most Heritage American students/part time employees. The only kids who they didn’t out hustle were the Asian students.
How about we get out of their country, stop paying their politicians and murdering them, give them back their land and minerals, and ask how much to do a deal? You know, like decent human beings.
In 1884, European states ratified Belgian rule over most of the Congo, and it became the personal fiefdom of King Leopold II.
Leopold took control promising to end slavery, improve the living standards of the people, and civilize them.
After driving out the Arab slave traders, the administration developed a horrific economic system built around rubber collection that was, in many ways, worse than the slavery it replaced. Congolese, including women and children, whose villages failed to meet their rubber quotas had their hands chopped off or were outright murdered. They had no personal time to plant crops or provide for other basic needs, and died from starvation and disease.
Between five and ten million people died under this system, and Congolese civilization regressed as its people were worked to death.
So to those who might be surprised that, 150 years later, elite Westerners are exploiting the people of the Congo in pursuit of a vague utopian project which happens to enriche themselves I have only this to say:
nihil novum sub sole.
“The world transitioning to electric cars” this made me lol.
Why don’t the businesses care? Lol
Because we are told we need stuff we don’t really need and because these companies and governments attach value to this same stuff we don’t need.
What this guy expect? The OSHA Warlord running the show in the Congo?
There’s not enough materials in the world for everyone to have this inefficient electric lies. That’s a feature not a flaw though…
I would rather see those kids put those hammers to use on their handlers.
I agree with everything you wrote.
That guy was more naïve than any one of those children using the “artisan tools” to dig the cobalt!
From my perspective we have now lost at least 2 generations who have zero idea of how anything really works in reality; and “artisanal mining of cobalt” is just one small point compared to their whole world is about to come crashing down and they are NOT trained in survival of the fittest.
They couldn’t find their way out of a paperbag without doing a ‘google search’ for the instructions.
Yep.
Get your kids and grandkids ready if you have them.
All of these people pushing this electric business have a death wish and want us all to pay.
There are millions of us.
We do our research, are not mentally challenged, or snared by belligerence or mass psychosis.
We are aware of the inhumanity, cruelty, and degenerate destruction these global monsters inflict on both our planet and the people.
Sick ….satanic….soulless!
How do we counter this?
$, when we have it to spare. Treeper iggyB keeps pushing the idea that if we millions donate, say, five dollars here and five dollars there to legitimate causes, then perhaps together we can make a difference. As Christmas gifts I gave relatives coffee where 100% of the proceeds go towards ending human trafficking. Other than those ideas, am open to suggestions by other treepers.
Pray, repent, and make reparations—to God!
EVs are not net positive. Other than that he is right on, but this is, regrettably, nothing new
“Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.” Ecclesiastes 4:1
depends on how you define “net”.
Greenies tend to define “net” starting at a point that is favorable to them. I heard one of them say, “my EV is carbon neutral after manufacturing” . He didnt even realize the ridiculousness of what he said.
Cobalt in these places is radioactive.
The DRC Mining Industry: Child Labor and Formalization of Small-Scale Mining
Michele Fabiola Lawson
By Michele Fabiola Lawson on September 1, 2021
Cobalt is quickly becoming the defining example of the mineral conundrum at the heart of the renewable energy transition. As a key component of battery materials that power electric vehicles (EVs), cobalt is facing a sustained surge in demand as decarbonisation efforts progress. The world’s largest cobalt supplier is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where it is estimated that up to a fifth of the production is produced through artisanal miners. Cobalt mining, however, is associated with dangerous workers’ exploitation and other serious environmental and social issues. As such, questions have arisen as to whether the transition to electric vehicles and cobalt-based batteries is yet another example of environmental problem-shifting and what a renewable energy transition without cobalt could look like.
Cobalt is an essential raw material used by large tech companies for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, electronic devices, and electric cars. However, the DRC’s valuable cobalt industry comes at a price: extraction of the mineral is linked to child labor, safety risks, environmental abuses, and corruption. If the DRC fails to adopt and enforce stricter regulations to protect small-scale miners, these trends will increase alongside the technology-driven surge in cobalt demand, projected to grow by 60% by 2025.
Child Labor
Small-scale mining in the DRC involves people of all ages, including children, obligated to work under harsh conditions. Of the 255,000 Congolese mining for cobalt, 40,000 are children, some as young as six years. Much of the work is informal small-scale mining in which laborers earn less than $2 per day while using their own tools, primarily their hands.
https://earth.org/cobalt-mining/
Sounds pretty bad.
But consider the choice these people face – earn $2 a day and help feed your family OR earn nothing and starve.
It’s not like they can earn a (subsistence) living elsewhere. They’re not learning to code. There ARE no jobs.
So their point of view might be a little different from ours.
Maybe they are grateful to the cobalt mining companies for allowing them to scratch out a living.
As someone said, life is cheap in the Congo.
Maybe $2/day is greater than the minimum wage in the Congo
Living in the satanic world system is a false choice.
They could farm, raise animals, etc. What they did for millenia.
Because satan worshippers want what you have…. you can be a slave, or go hungry.
Two very notable “Black” celebrity families have large financial stakes in Africa and have made many trips to the region…Jessie Jackson and family as well as Comrade Obama.
Most recently Comrade Obama and his buddies have spent allot of time cultivating the Marxist leadership in the area. Comrade Obama has been droning people in Africa for over 10+ years.
The US has a separate Military Command (AFRICOM) dedicated to the region. The US 101st Division and Special Operations Command are deployed there as well as a US Marine Amphibious Task Force and USAF Air Element. Then there EU (G7) military assets all over the area.
China has a growing physical presence on the East African coast.
Russia has a very long checkered history in Africa since 1960.
Finally, this puts a whole new spin and context on those Islamic Black African Terrorist .. who really owns them??
Where will all the Cobalt waste products go in our country? The usual, groundwater, dump sites, etc.
Just guessing here….but right underneath our feet…a great big whole in the ground that the US Dep of Env. approves .
Sleep well.
Landfill redistribution. Now, it all makes sense.
My first thought was, the blood diamonds saga again!
Cobalt, waste products, solar cell batteries, for example plus Nanoparticles waste, mRNA delivery, for example. These will not save the environment. It will clearly destroy it!
You really want to pay attention to this article!
Nanoparticles in Biosolids: Effect on Soil Health and Crop Growth
Conclusion
Although, the application of nanotechnology in fields like medicine, pharmacy could be lifesaving, elevated levels of nanoparticles in the environment may not be good for public health. The detection of nanoparticles in biosolids indicates that increasing production of nanoparticles has released them beyond the boundaries where they are needed. This does not however mean we should stop land application of biosolids which provides cheap source of nutrients and organic matter for good soil health and crop growth. There may be the need to develop more efficient treatment processes at WWTPs to increase removal of these contaminants of emerging concern before land application. Regulations also need to be modified to include allowable levels of nanoparticles in biosolids before land application. However, studies have shown that effect of nanoparticles on crop growth depend on plant species, type of nanoparticles and dose applied. More studies are needed to determine threshold levels for land application of these nanomaterials for different crops in biosolids amended soils. The antimicrobial effect of some nanoparticles may also affect plant-microbe relationships that promote soil fertility and crop growth. Hence, these nanoparticles need to be properly identified and regulated before land application of biosolids.
https://www.peertechzpublications.com/articles/AEST-2-113.php
But it’s over there so it doesn’t affect us, right? /s
If we go crazy, and shut down these mines, a lot of those people will then starve. But yes, we need to know about it to understand the level of propaganda surrounding both global companies and
the green energy scam.
You need to collect a lot of the money from the people owning the mines and go into farming with that money. Build schools for the children. Feed these people and teach them the skills needed.
We do not teach OUR children much of anything needed let alone a skill.
Or, oprah can open another child trafficking rape cen……. school.
Lots lived in the Congo before Cobalt mining. What did they eat before?
They will starve because that is how these situations are always setup.
We the people can stand up and end all of this shit.
Then, let’s force the bastards and their spawn squander their lives doing these grueling options.
The human cost of cobalt is known, but hidden for political reasons.
The larger issue is that there are insufficient quantities of Cobalt, Lithium, Neodymium, Copper, etc, to support the system of “renewables” . The materials to achieve solar/wind/battery power “at grid scale” simply do not exist. It doesn’t matter what you want, believe, promote, sell, or imagine.
The only “sustainable” energy sources at Grid Scale are Fission and Fusion. Fusion is “always 30 years away” from fruition. Fission is resource constrained for a Uranium fuel cycle without fuel rod reprocessing. That’s the transuranic series involving plutonium. Thorium in a closed cycle with reprocessing, avoids 90% of the long lived isotopes and is sustainable for over 30,000 years.
Coal, oil, and natural gas, are fully viable in the short term of 50 to 200 years.
Proper fission cycles are viable for 30,000 years.
If viable fusion ever occurs, then yes, that is the ultimate answer, but it has yet to happen.
Solar/Wind/Batteries are a political answer to a political problem that doesn’t exist in reality. IOTW, BS.
Grid Scale Power is an awesome thing. Wind/Solar/Batteries are an illusion of the ignorant and a fantasy of the believers.
“More people died in Ted Kennedy’s car than died at 3 Mile Island.”
SituationCRiticalAxe theManila!
Cowboy,
Best post and succinct message ever!
At very best the ‘renewable energy’ sources currently being promoted (wind, solar, etc.) are decades away from being viable and effective at any scale. Most people focus on the limited issue of rechargeable EV’s, phones, household appliances, etc. But these are really just the very small tip of a very large iceberg.
The intent, that is already being implemented to some extent, is that everything will be powered by electricity. The electrical demand if everything that currently uses generated energy is converted to electricity as the generating source would be astronomical. Never mind attempting to generate that amount of electricity from ‘renewable sources’ that may or may not be ready 50 or 100 years from now. Exactly how many millions of square miles of solar and wind ‘farms’ will be required just to power the digital currency mining centers? Never mind one of the new ‘smart cities’.
What about the amount of the not so rare metal copper that will be required? Every EV, smart appliance, electric motor, etc. uses copper. The solar panels and wind turbines use copper. Copper is currently still the most viable option for electrical power transmission. In order to convert all of civilization to 100% electrical energy the mining of copper would have to increase exponentially. But those in favor of ‘green energy’ are also in opposition to the current level and scope of copper mining.
Maybe some time in the future we might find a new metal on an asteroid that can be replicated in a laboratory out of thin air without the use of any energy and that ‘manmade’ metal can be used to replace copper?
Until ‘renewable energy’ and ‘alternative materials’ become viable realties the current ‘plans’ being promoted do not and can not work. The dirty little secret that no one is talking about regarding ‘green energy’ is that it requires a massive reduction of energy use. That can only be done by a reduction of the equipment that uses energy. In an age when every new ‘advance’ in technology uses more energy. Sometimes using energy more efficiently but still using more energy.
The only answer, as has been discussed frequently on CTH, is not switching to ‘renewable energy’ or creating new technology that uses more energy more efficiently. The real answer can only be to reduce the number of those using the energy that is available.
Horrific…is an understatement.
Is there anything in our world we have not been lied to from the wicked rich and elite?
The only slavery they are worried about is the slavery we ended over 150yrs ago in a bloody Civil War. They are for the most part pretty much okay with the slavery that never ended in Africa and other places in the world because they benefit from it.
Nothing but a bunch of self serving hypocrites.
Cradle to grave ICE is immeasurably better than EV because there is no technology for landfilling EV batteries.
There was a recent article in a lefty publication stating that for CO2 emissions (including mining, manufacturing, etc) ICE was way ahead of EV until the inflection point at about 100,000 miles.
So he promotes “transitioning” the world from internal combustion engines to electric as a “net good thing”.
That makes him part of the problem.
The globalist narrative which hides the deceit of slave labor for the battery materials, is the same globalist narrative that hiding the role of EVs role in population control.
Electric cars are good we just gotta make the communist Chinese treat their slaves better.
You hit the nail of the head.
Iisten to him speak, He appears very intelligent and very well “educated”. Likely he has been brainwashed into the NWO green new deal. We just need to fix the Congo problem. Price of Cobalt needs to go up a bit and everyone will be happy.
Looked him up.
Educated at Duke, Columbia and Univ of London. Now a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. No way he has not been brainwashed into believing in the Green New Deal.
Not brainwashed. A willing ideologue and participant – rewarded handsomely.
The Environmentalists screamed bloody murder over Petroleum Powered Vehicles because it produces waste.
The Environmentalists screamed bloody murder Coal because it produces waste.
The Environmentalists hated Nuclear because it produces waste.
BUT… the Environmentalists have NOT screamed bloody murder over Lithium Batteries even though it produces waste and its constituent components are often mined with no care to the Environment or to the lives of Children?
It’s almost as if Environmental Activists are just Lobbyist and Useful Idiots being used to make their Puppet Masters rich beyond the dreams of avarice? But that has to a Conspiracy Theory… just like Twitter being controlled by the FBI! **/Sarcasm**
What could be better than than black slavery and electric cars to fire up the America’s latte, liberals for some good ole’ fashion American imperialism
It looks like the US, EU and the IMF intend to take over the slave labor camps by making better deals with the despots than China has.
US-China Struggle for DR Congo Resources Intensifies
December 26, 2022
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/12/us-china-struggle-for-dr-congo-resources-intensifies.html
This is a libtard issue I can get behind.
But no libtards are talking about it.
at 12:00 forward, this moron snaps back to saying that battery cars are a good thing
his whole purpose is to find a way to make ‘green’ a good thing. but he has no ability to understand that at its root, the ‘green’ energy scams are scams
So what do the greenies have planned when all the cobalt it dug out of the Congo and there’s nothing left to run their Tesla’s?
Will they then decide fossil fuel is the way to go?
And where is AOC wearing her tight white jeans and sobbing fake tears over these teenage boys and men trapped in this mine? It is more heartbreaking than illegal children secured behind a chain link fence with food, heat, medical care and games to keep them occupied while others work to sort out what to do with them.
The plan is, we will be dead.
my book
my book
my book
he’s selling to the last white guilt generation
Greg. I wish there were more people writing a books like this ! Cobalt = asbestos to me. In 1983 my sister died from mesothelioma. Cancer from asbestos in the pleural lining of her lungs.
I pray I never have to be at the bedside of another human being that has to diesuch a painful death like this. We did all kinds of things undreamed of to save her to no avail. Talk about feeling helpless.
After that and before the internet existed I went into the bowels of a prominent university in my area to do research on asbestos, and what I found might as well have be the same story about cobalt.
The US Navy lined all of their boats with asbestos, and all of these good sailors/workers there would take naps in the big fluffy piles of asbestos, had all that sh*t on their clothes where all their kids could inhale it after their clothes when they came home.
The stories I read from Africa re the people who went down into the mines dropping dead after one day chilled me to the bone.
You also might also be interested to know that Dick Cheney had a big stake in Dresser Industries, one of the biggest asbestos mining operations in the world .that went bankrupt over all the lawsuits, and was renamed as HALIBURTIN, and just happened to be one of the GREATEST BENEFERICIARY’S (SP) of the “war” in Iraq. I am pretty sure (SNARK) re all of those no bid contracts.
Nothing to see here. Let’s just move along, and forget the how US soldiers who spent their time and lives in Iraq protecting the poppy fields (heroin) getting their limbs blown off.
I know I went on a rant here. But what the heck, its day three now of the twelve days of Christmas. Three turtle doves.
These people will die soon. Starvation is knocking on their door along with the weapons provided by the Clinton Foundation. Funny how dirty Bill flies out so regularly, and no one asks questions, but he got away with his Lolita flights too.
Perhaps that guy can also investigate Black Ivy for slave labor, or may be Mills and Clinton get immunity on that too? Imagine sitting in the heat all day sewing clothes for Europe at 9 cents an hour. No wonder they hate us, they have every fkin right!
The left cares nothing for anything in life except the smell of there own shit
Left means sinister.
Nicholas Reece, who I think might be the deputy mayor of Melbourne or something similar, is quite far to the left. One time on Sky News Australia he was a guest and someone was talking about these kids. His response was that these young children need a union. Such a ridiculous and such a lefty comment.
Saving the planet and saving the people are two different things.
The leftist elite are quite clear, in their own minds, of the world they intend to create.
The hewers of wood and drawers of water must be located far away.
The Kennedy family are quite ferocious believers in global warming, and they fought just that ferociously against windmills visible from the Kennedy compound.
All variations of leftism are feudalists. A few rich will live by very privileged rules, and the poor of the planet will supply them.
Only the American vision of equality contradicts them, so they hate America. America or feudalism – it really is that simple..
When Joe asked where cobalt is mined ethically, I took pause, thought of what Thomas Sowell would look at/consider because this is an economic issue as well as an ethical one.
Economics is about tradeoffs. We won’t stop using cobalt. The obvious tradeoff is to be willing to pay whatever the cost to use ethically mined cobalt. But how does the consumer negotiate this with the owners/operators (profiteers) of these mines? We can’t rely on our elected officials to negotiate ethical trade agreements, and in all likelihood these elected officials profit from how the market has developed.
I have no idea what a fair wage would be in the Congo. The only way to know would be through fair and ethical competition. Who owns the rights to these mines? It’s not unreasonable that profit is made by the owners, but that’s also assuming these owners/ corporations are ethical. I would never be foolish enough to assume that.
Ultimately, it’s up to the Congolese to fight for better wages and working conditions (unless you think our government should intervene). I’m not sure how to support that fight, but it seems it something consumers should want to support.
I could see myself choosing to spend an extra $20 (random amount for discussion purposes) for a cellphone with an ethically sourced battery, but when the governor of my state says all our cars must be electric by 2030, well that’s no longer a consumer making a choice. All the people on this thread suggesting nuclear energy may very well be correct, but because our elected officials don’t seem to want that to be on the table, those who want to explore alternatives have that choice stolen.
There is a dizzying amount of corruption to negotiate through. I’d like JR to ask Elon about this the next time he’s on the JRE.
Save the planet is a common phrase used in perception management.
You assume the planet needs to be saved.
So you believe the lie and assume its true.
The phrase save the planet is used to manipulate people via the global warming lie.
If man controlled the heating and cooling of the planet because of what he does it is assumed he can also save it.
Man can’t save the planet because he doesn’t control the planet.
People assume he does when they believe the planet needs to be saved.
Buy an ev and help save the planet.
Go green is another phrase used that is assumed to mean man can control the planet and save the planet from himself.
People live the lie of global warming thinking they are helping to save the planet from mans ability to control the weather.
Man does not control the weather.
God controls the weather.
http://exactweather.com/
I recall how everyone was so outraged about the movie, “Blood Diamonds”.
No one will utter a peep about the mining of Cobalt by young Africans. Not a convenient story.
Our EVs are available to us through child labor, horrific conditions and China owned mines. Fascinating interview. The movement to end these practices with a campaign like conflict minerals will begin with this guys book. Then what? China isn’t going to change these slavery mines, it’s how they are bred to “produce”.
Where will this new source of energy come from? I suspect many smart minds are thinking about this all the time, the path to sustainability ends when word of these Congo tactics are exposed. The comments here are interesting. Cold fusion, nuclear fission, what will take the place of cobalt in our batteries?
We should start a sticker campaign for the recharging stations.
Americans, on the whole, are very lazy and therefore ignorant.
Many complain how difficult life is on a small, mobile, computer-like phone made by those who are enslaved.
Yes Americans, the greatest invention of all time, your cell phone, comes to you by means you wish to ignore.
Your cocoon is very one sided. Look in the mirror buster. Oh, I’m sorry, you’re in a cocoon. Nevermind.
Why are we even arguing that Americans are the problem. Apple pushes a new phone at the drop of a hat and a couple of billionaires somewhere are getting richer, some Americans are elated, and many Americans ask, “why are we getting a newer phone now? Mine is working just fine?”
The reason we are now in a time of reverse inflation is the billionaires began to see if buying slows down, and if investments shrink, their money pots show a decline. BTW, where is our cheap gas coming from?
A NEW VERSION OF CHESS
They have experimented with our buying habits and our tolerance for pain. They know how much the American people will let them gig us and when we yell Uncle. We are like robots and when they want to put fear in us, they now can. When they want us to enjoy life, they know which way to turn the screw. We are a game to the rich and powerful and once they can turn off your lights at will, stop your freedom of speech, and stop you from driving on a whim, they will either give us just enough freedom to keep the wheels turning or we will all become slaves to their marketplace dreams.
Soon, we will all need new laptops or home computers of some kind because Gates and Company are stopping their support for older computers. Drive that market must be their company objective. Hide and watch!
Next it will be our refrigerators, then our medicines will be in short supply because China can’t keep up with the demand, and then our gardens won’t be growing because the seeds will be either expensive or non existent.
If you get my drift, we have become pawns in the world game of Chess.
Think we all understand the hypocrisy and lies we are told on a daily basis but in playing Devil’s advocate, if these people were not working the mines what would they be doing? Dying in poverty? As always we need to address the Congo government as much as the world’s thirst for Cobalt.
So he’s (Kara’s)saying that the switch from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles is a “net” good thing, just not for the cobalt miners in the Congo. HUH? Where is this guy actually coming from? The WEF? Mixed messages much?!!
It’s always some model based on subjective “assumptions” like health benefits from less CO2. Peak under the hood and it’s just a house of cards
I never pass on the opportunity to remind people that carbon dioxide is a benefit to our world and to plants. It does not cause global warming and indeed there is no warming apart from natural variation. All is false. They know, and we know it. We need to stop this nonsense. It is no longer a cute pastime for bored idealists who aren’t ready to actually engage with a real problem, or a moral salve to the depraved billionaire pirates of the WEF.
God created a perfect relationship between man and plants –its is unfathomable that people view CO2 as toxic when it has a beautiful purpose that nets us oxygen. Second only to the absurdity of killing millions and destroying Western civilization for a common cold virus.
Exactly what I always believed. More people, more CO2, more food for plant life. God made it this way and it wotks.
But it is not about climate change. It’s about money. It’s the biggest grift ever. It’s about control.
Man’s hubris in the face of God or Nature never fails to astonish—e.g. California’s Glass Beach (link): until 1967, local residents used the beach as a garbage dump, but over the ensuing decades (God-created) Nature’s waves transformed the ugly, discarded glass into delightful multi-coloured pebbles.
Lesson: just leave things the f*** alone, God or Nature will sort it out.
But re. ‘It’s about control’—how far would you place your faith in God wrt to those who rule? Would you allow God to decide your rulers (i.e. the lottery of birth—monarchy and aristocracy) or do you believe mortals are better placed to choose their own rulers?
What? God didn’t do that read the Bible, damn people. The most printed available book in history and has every answer and nobody will spend time reading it. God said no king, that was Saul who tried to kill David, but people had to have a king and this is still a curse.
You wanna know why we all are in this mess? That’s why.
unbelievable, the ignorance of a gifted society who refuse to take responsibility for anything, blame God.
Can you see why these criminals flourish? People refuse to read the manual. They read garbage all day that is meaningless and watch their kids and lives literally destroyed. You figure someone would wake up and say “oh my let’s try this instead” and read the Bible, you don’t have to do anything else if you don’t want to just read it.
I always felt like President Trump missed an opportunity by not having a series of town hall or rallies around the country with real non bought and paid for scientists explaining the global warming hoax. They are terrifying little kids with this garbage every day. Of course you could say the media would ignore these arguments but they are totally addicted to everything Pres. Trump says.
They hogtied him with the Russia hoax and 2 impeachments. No time for niceties such as townhalls on CO2 or the climate crap.
Not this time.
I agree. I have been saying that for awhile now. To have neighborhood town hall meetings and invite experts to be there and answer the questions that people are encouraged to ask. Too many people are not aware of what is going on.
The problem with “bored idealists” … their thinking never extends past the pre-approved-woke-answer received on their googled question.
The carbon cycle is the cycle of life. That’s not what they teach in school anymore.
I remember when, gov. Started pushing, ozone depleted substances out of all gov. Contracting. 1990ish. I knew it was a hoax then, just like it s now. Back then it was to stop Global warming. We all know the world has weather changes every year. To hedge their bets, sway masses, it switched from Global warning to.
Wait for it….. climate change. Now they are always correct. See hw that works. Control narrative, control world. God pls help all mankind to wake up. We will win this war, battle, but alot of innocent people are dying who have no clue. God wins all battles. Wars. We just need to take the field. And to that I reply. THE STORM HAS ARRIVED. GOD BLESS ALL LOST SOULS TO THIS SATAN OF CENSURESHIP. READ YOUR BIBLE. PRAY. AND PASS THE AMMO.
Wait on the Lord, and our military. Hold the line. Brighter days just ahead. All will know when to take the field. Shortly.
How many people in government sold their stock in Freon producing companies, and bought stock in Puron producers…Before they made Freon illegal?
Or were they doing the bidding of their campaign donors, that wanted the change?
Exactly. At one time it was the big freeze and then it went to global warming and suddenly they changed it to climate change so it would take care of all the sudden changes. It is all about control over the people.
EVERY living thing on the planet is based on CARBON! [with only a handful of exceptions]
CO2 is necessary for the survival of each and every one of those living organisms.
How can CO2 be a “pollutant”?
WITHOUT IT EVERYTHING WILL DIE!
This “Green New Deal” or whatever cutesy name they put on it, is the largest genocide in history!
Stop this madness or billions will perish!
agreed. The baloney “net good thing” is the driving force behind the problem this guy is writing a book about.
Slaves groveling in a toxic cobalt mine is a negative that cannot be overcome!
The problem is not cell phones and laptops.
The problem is the insanity of forcing EV’s on everyone!
There are not enough raw materials on the planet to sustain this ridiculous madness!
What is the underlying motivation of these people?
YOUR EXTINCTION!
That’s what!
Thank you and I was going to post same. I thought I was hearing it wrong. Your post should get 100’s of likes. This is where we are heading and they know it?
The immediate plan for criminals is artificial scarcity. This provides leverage for exploitation, their true Holy Grail. Notice that they steadfastly refuse to institute nuclear power which could actually support electrical energy needs. Free energy is not their goal.
And nuclear is clean energy.
“Ends justify the means.” That’s how these types justify their obsession to ‘save the planet’.
Slave the planet.
And I’m sure old Joe Rogan pretended not notice the absurdity of Kara’s position. 🙄
Exactly what I thought.
Preface: I didn’t watch the video and likely won’t. Other priorities.
If the argument that he is making is that e-vehicles are beneficial in the macro but very detrimental in the micro (Uganda), well, that could be a valid observation. And perhaps one could make that argument that its worth it. That might be perfectly valid.
The thing that never gets put on the docket for discussion — and its quite amazing to me that it does not … For the sake of argument, if we accept that we have put ourselves in an environmentally-untenable position, well, who put us in that position and for what reasons? The fact of the matter is that we were driven to high-consumption societies, highly centralized supply chains, and low self-reliance for the benefit of a parasitic narcissistic overclass over many generations.
**That same class of people now wants to pin all of of this on us Useless Eaters and morph everything into new and more pathological models of exploitation and oppression.***
It seems to me that the problem is not the plebs but the thin-layer of sociopathy at the top. A solvable problem.
I don’t think humans factored into Kara’s “net” total.
I don’t think he’s saying that at all.
we should buy minerals from the Chinese Taliban Biden complex, that would be much better
the entire green economy is considerably worse than the fossil fuel economy, which is almost 100 years into efficiency
C02 can be scrubbed from the air by, wait for it, wait for it, high tech invention called, PHOTOSYNTHESIS. Plants kids, trees and organic farming. Obviously, this is not an approved solution, hence the Monsanto FDA under Obama and Biden going after family organic farms
Exactly, big bus, tech. Coordinating with so called eletes. sorass, schwab, gates, rothchild, vanderbuilts, public enemies #1
Hasn’t he taken on quite enough for you?
Kara’s worked on behalf of the poorest of the poor slaves and child workers in the worst hellholes for over 20 years.
Now he’s fearlessly taking on global big tech including Tesla, Apple, Microsoft in exposing the inhumanity of cobalt.
Kudos to Siddharth Kara for risking his life in Africa and taking on the most powerful.
Kudos to Joe Rogan for giving Kara 20+ million viewer platform.
Suggest you go watch the full 1.5 hour interview.
You go work on your EV projects.